Learning Through Our Senses in the Montessori Toddler Environment

Dr. Maria Montessori believed that our intellect and knowledge of the world have their beginnings in the senses. As human beings, we absorb our knowledge about the world through seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting what is around us.

This month’s theme in the Toddler Class is “My Body and My Senses.” Along with all of the everyday sensorial activities in the classroom, the children went on a deeper journey of their senses.

The Toddlers explored their taste buds with a little platter and tasted sweet (honey), salty (pretzel), bitter (90% cocoa dark chocolate) and sour (lemon wedge). While they tasted these items, they also smelled and felt them; all of these sensory experiences make room for new vocabulary.

They also explored different smells – some good and some not so much. Some things did not smell much but once they were crushed up, they smelled very strong all of a sudden.

To explore our sense of hearing, we played a listening game where we sat for one minute of silence, and then talked about the things we heard during this time. The children also discovered that they could feel different textures with their feet (messy, but fun)!